The changing of organic matter into other chemical forms.
Biomass conversion:
The changing of organic matter that has been produced by photosynthesis into useful liquid, gas or fuel.
Biomedical technology:
The application of health care theories to develop methods, products and tools to maintain or improve homeostasis.
Biomes:
A community of living organisms of a single major ecological region.
Biotechnology:
The ways that humans apply biological concepts to produce products and provide services.
Carbon chemistry:
The science of the composition, structure, properties and reactions of carbon based matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems; sometimes referred to as organic chemistry.
Construction technology:
The ways that humans build structures on sites.
Desalinization:
To remove salts and other chemicals from sea or saline water.
Dichotomous:
Divided or dividing into two parts or classifications.
Electronic communication:
System for the transmission of information using electronic technology (e.g., digital cameras, cellular telephones, Internet, television, fiber optics).
Embryology:
The branch of biology dealing with the development of living things from fertilized egg to its developed state.
Engineering:
The application of scientific, physical, mechanical and mathematical principles to design processes, products and structures that improve the quality of life.
Enzyme:
A protein that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being changed by the reaction; an organic catalyst.
Ergonomical:
Of or relating to the design of equipment or devices to fit the human body’s control, position, movement and environment.
Evolution:
A process of change that explains why what we see today is different from what existed in the past; it includes changes in the galaxies, stars, solar system, earth and life on earth. Biological evolution is a change in hereditary characteristics of groups of organisms over the course of generations.
Fact:
Information that has been objectively verified.
Geologic hazard:
A naturally occurring or man-made condition or phenomenon that presents a risk or is a potential danger to life and property (e.g., landslides, floods, earthquakes, ground subsidence, coastal and beach erosion, faulting, dam leakage and failure, mining disasters, pollution and waste disposal, sinkholes).
Geologic map:
A representation of a region on which is recorded earth information (e.g., the distribution, nature and age relationships of rock units and the occurrences of structural features, mineral deposits and fossil localities).
Hydrology:
The scientific study of the properties, distribution and effects of water on the earth’s surface, in the soil and underlying rocks and in the atmosphere.
Hypothesis:
An assertion subject to verification or proof as a premise from which a conclusion is drawn.
Information technology:
The technical means that humans create to store and transmit information.
Inquiry:
A systematic process for using knowledge and skills to acquire and apply new knowledge.
Instructional technology:
Any mechanical aid (including computer technology) used to assist in or enhance the process of teaching and learning.
Law:
Summarizing statement of observed experimental facts that has been tested many times and is generally accepted as true.
Manufacturing technology:
The ways that humans produce goods and products.
Mitosis:
The sequential differentiation and segregation of replicated chromosomes in a cell’s nucleus that precedes complete cell division.
Model:
A description, analogy or a representation of something that helps us understand it better (e.g., a physical model, a conceptual model, a mathematical model).
Nova:
A variable star that suddenly increases in brightness to several times its normal magnitude and returns to its original appearance in a few weeks to several months or years.
Patterns:
Repeated processes that are exhibited in a wide variety of ways; identifiable recurrences of the element and/or the form.
Physical technology:
The ways that humans construct, manufacture and transport products.
Radioactive isotope:
An atom that gives off nuclear radiation and has the same number of protons (atomic number) as another atom but a different number of neutrons.
Relationship between
science and technology:
Science builds principles or theories while technology is the practical application of those principles or theories.
Scale:
Relates concepts and ideas to one another by some measurement (e.g., quantitative, numeral, abstract, ideological); provides a measure of size and/or incremental change.
Science:
Search for understanding the natural world using inquiry and experimentation.
System:
A group of related objects that work together to achieve a desired result.
Open Loop
system:
A group of related objects that do not have feedback and cannot modify themselves.
Closed Loop system:
A group of related objects that have feedback and can modify themselves.
Subsystem:
A group of related objects that make up a larger system (e.g., automobiles have electrical systems, fuel systems).
Technology education:
The application of tools, materials, processes and systems to solve problems and extend human capabilities.
Technological design process:
Recognizing the problem, proposing a solution, implementing the solution, evaluating the solution and communicating the problem, design and solution.
Theory:
Systematically organized knowledge applicable in a relatively wide variety of circumstances; especially, a system of assumptions, accepted principles and rules of procedure devised to analyze, predict or otherwise explain the nature or behavior of a specified set of phenomena.
Theory of evolution:
A theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modification in successive generations.
Topographic map:
A representation of a region on a sufficient scale to show detail, selected man-made and natural features of a portion of the land surface including its relief and certain physical and cultural features; the portrayal of the position, relation, size, shape and elevation of the area.
Transportation systems:
A group of related parts that function together to perform a major task in any form of transportation.
Transportation technology:
The physical ways humans move materials, goods and people.
Tool:
Any device used to extend human capability including computer-based tools.
science and technology:
system: